Pharmacy Council urged to hold refresher programmes for pharmacists
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: In view of the increasing cases of misuse of medicine as well as increased awareness among the general public, the Goa State Pharmacy Council, the regulatory body for all pharmacists in the state has been asked to activate itself and hold regular refresher programmes for all the pharmacists under its wings.
A letter written by the Raj Vaidya, a community pharmacist from Hindu Pharmacy, to the President and Executive Members of the Goa State Pharmacy Council, has asked that regular Continuing Medical Education programmes be conducted and that pharmacists who do not attend such programmes should be denied renewal of registration.
“It should be made mandatory for pharmacists in the state to attend a minimum number of continuing medical education sessions every year (say at least 5 days or a particular number of credits), the renewal of pharmacists’ registration should be now done on a yearly basis (from the current lifetime or 5 yearly registrations). Renewal should be done only if the Pharmacist attends the minimum number of education sessions as specified by the Council, every year (The Goa Medical Council has already made attending such CMEs mandatory),” Vaidya has said in his letter.
He has also sought that the state pharmacy council prepare an exhaustive database of all registered pharmacists and regularly update it.
The State Pharmacy council currently only engages itself with registration of pharmacies and pharmacists blaming its inefficiency on the lack of staff and the lack of a proper office premises for its functioning.
Functioning from one room in the old mental hospital, in Altinho, the 15-member pharmacy council rarely meets because all its members are involved in their daily work as a result their service for the council suffers.
Pharmacists in the past have sought for a more efficient pharmacy council to better the practice in the state.